


Spiced Rum

by methlabs



Category: Red Dead Redemption
Genre: Alcohol, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Drunkenness, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Pre-Relationship, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 10:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17140097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/methlabs/pseuds/methlabs
Summary: Christmas morning is always full of surprises.





	Spiced Rum

**Author's Note:**

> this is my fave rdr ship and i'm surprised it took getting wasted on xmas eve to prompt me to write something for them

As Christmas Eve slowly turned into Christmas morning, a thin blanket of snow settled lazily upon the Van der Linde camp. A peaceful silence filled the air, aside from the occasional crackle of the campfire and the gang's intermittent snores. Arthur stared blearily into the fire, pulling his woollen coat tighter around him. From his place on the log, he had a view of most of the gang--his family, sleeping peacefully in their respective shelters. He assumed he was the only one awake, or at least the only one relatively sober enough to be conscious at this hour. The distinct crunch of snow from behind proved him wrong.

"Hola."

Arthur turned to greet Javier, who was looking slightly more disheveled than he usually allowed himself to be. His serape was wrapped haphazardly around his shoulders and he was clutching what Arthur could only assume to be a quarter-full bottle of rum. Javier noticed him eyeing the bottle and scoffed as he took a seat to Arthur's right.

"Don't worry, I shared it. Mostly."

Arthur only nodded and turned back to the fire, outstretching his arms to warm the tips of his fingers. From the corner of his eye he watched Javier stretching his legs out toward the fire and was suddenly hyper-aware of how close the other man was sitting to him. Arthur could almost feel the heat radiating off of Javier as he shifted to dust some of the freshly gathered snow off the log. "What're you doing up?"

Javier hummed in consideration, and Arthur almost thought he was going to forget to answer entirely as he stared intensely into the flames. "I don't know.", he answered with a laugh that Arthur decided was laced with far too much amusement for the conversation.

"You're really in the drinks, huh." Arthur chuckled, shaking his head. Javier was gazing at him with a lazy but genuine smile and Arthur felt the tops of his ears start to burn. He glanced away quickly, only to spot John stumbling across camp towards the pair of them.

"Howdy fellers," he announced in a voice that could have woken the dead, and Arthur was quick to shush him.

"Sit down ya drunken fool. And for god's sake be quiet, the sane people in this camp are trying to sleep." Arthur hissed, patting snow off the log next to him. John plopped himself down unceremoniously before leaning forward to give Javier an exaggerated wave from the other side of Arthur, to which Javier responded with what Arthur could only describe as a giggle. "Oh get a goddamn room, you two."

"Mmh, we need adult supervision." Javier chuckled, lifting his bottle to take a swig when Arthur yanked it from his hand. "Hey--!"

"You've had enough for tonight, the both of you. I don't want to be responsible for your corpses when you die of alcohol poisoning."

Javier reached for the bottle but Arthur held it above him easily. "Arthur, come on, it's Christmas.", he whined, snatching at the air in vain. "Just one more sip, por favor."

Arthur seemingly relented, lowering the bottle before bringing it to his lips and downing the remainder in one go. Javier stared at him, scandalised, while John was in a fit of laughter. "Hey, shut up." Arthur elbowed him in the side, but couldn't help the fond smile creeping onto his face.

John's laughter subsided and a comfortable silence settled over the three of them. Arthur felt a weight on his left shoulder, and only after a moment he registered it as John leaning against him. For body heat, he told himself. As John yawned and pressed himself further into his side, something familiar stirred in Arthur's belly, which he quickly disregarded as the alcohol kicking in. Javier, however, caught him off guard as he let himself fall against Arthur's other shoulder.

"You can be so mean," Javier slurred, his accent heavy with alcohol as he let his eyes droop shut. John had already started snoring lightly, too. Arthur tried to still himself between the two men, though he swore his heart might jump right out of his chest. He never wanted to move. So he didn't.

Watching the last of the snow fall, Arthur sighed, suddenly feeling a lot warmer inside. And he decided that it might just be more than the spiced rum.


End file.
